Abstract
Abstract Citrus Huanglongbing (HLB), caused by the phloem-limited bacterium Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus ( C Las), is the most devastating citrus disease worldwide, with no efficient cure currently available. C Las pathogen exhibits seasonal variations in China and adversely affects the native citrus endophytic microbiome. Recent research on the citrus endophytic microbiome has identified the promising biocontrol strategies for mitigating HLB, particularly through the manipulation of plant–microbe–pathogen interactions. Here, we provide empirical evidence from a decade (2015–2025) of research focusing on indigenous citrus endophyte, notably Bacillus subtilis L1-21, which demonstrates remarkable efficacy in reducing C Las in the diseased citrus fields with biocontrol effect exceeding 95% in successive HLB-affected citrus plants (> 200 acres of infected field). Further, we demonstrate several mechanisms, such as colonization inside phloem, host immune modulation, and interkingdom signalling-through which pathogen reduction is achieved in greenhouse experiments. Across different scenarios, surfactin lipopeptides were found to play a multifaceted role in colonization, acting as a defense elicitor, and a quorum sensing molecule involved in regulating Bacillus community behaviour. Next, multi-omics approaches (metabolomics, transcriptomics, and metagenomics) have elucidated metabolic crosstalk between citrus hosts and endophytes, highlighting the importance of upregulated defense pathways and enrichment of potential endophytic microbiome. However, several challenges remain in translating laboratory findings to field applications, including scalability of endophyte formulations, environmental stability, and ecological impacts of microbiome manipulation. Overall, we propose that integrating citrus microbiome engineering with plant breeding and precision agriculture could bridge the gap between lab discoveries and field applications in long-term. Finally, we highlight the biocontrol potential of native endophyte-based strategies for HLB management and advocate for interdisciplinary collaboration to address knowledge gaps in microbial ecology, host genetics, and sustainable agriculture strategies.
Abstract from the paper’s OpenAlex record; open copy licensed cc-by. Read at the source ↗
The text the model read, with the source record’s inline markup (italics, sub- and superscripts) rendered and its character entities decoded; quote offsets refer to the raw text.
Claims 7
Claim · model-written summary
Bacillus subtilis L1-21 reduced C Las in diseased citrus fields, with biocontrol effect above 95%.
- Treatment
- Bacillus subtilis L1-21e0
- Interactor
- C Lase0pathogen
- Second interactor
- Bacillus subtilis L1-21
Bacillus subtilise0biocontrol_agent - Outcome
- C Lase0
- Direction
- reducinge0
- Value
- exceeding 95%e0
- Setting
- diseased citrus fieldse0
CitrusNot reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Bacillus subtilis L1-21, which demonstrates remarkable efficacy in reducing C Las in the diseased citrus fields with biocontrol effect exceeding 95%”
t0“citrus Huanglongbing management”
Claim · model-written summary
Endophyte colonization inside phloem, host immune modulation and interkingdom signalling are mechanisms of pathogen reduction in greenhouse experiments (author interpretation).
- Outcome
- pathogen reductione0
- Qualifier
- colonization inside phloem, host immune modulation, and interkingdom signallinge0
- Setting
- greenhouse experimentse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Further, we demonstrate several mechanisms, such as colonization inside phloem, host immune modulation, and interkingdom signalling-through which pathogen reduction is achieved in greenhouse experiments”
t0“citrus Huanglongbing management”
Claim · model-written summary
Surfactin lipopeptides play a multifaceted role in colonization, acting as a defense elicitor and quorum sensing molecule.
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Across different scenarios, surfactin lipopeptides were found to play a multifaceted role in colonization, acting as a defense elicitor, and a quorum sensing molecule involved in regulating Bacillus community behaviour”
t0“citrus Huanglongbing management”
Claim · model-written summary
Multi-omics analyses revealed metabolic crosstalk between citrus and its endophytes.
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“multi-omics approaches (metabolomics, transcriptomics, and metagenomics) have elucidated metabolic crosstalk between citrus hosts and endophytes, highlighting the importance of upregulated defense pathways and enrichment of potential endophytic microbiome”
t0“citrus Huanglongbing management”
Claim · model-written summary
Defense pathways were upregulated in citrus under endophyte-based multi-omics analysis.
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“multi-omics approaches (metabolomics, transcriptomics, and metagenomics) have elucidated metabolic crosstalk between citrus hosts and endophytes, highlighting the importance of upregulated defense pathways and enrichment of potential endophytic microbiome”
t0“citrus Huanglongbing management”
Claim · model-written summary
The endophytic microbiome was enriched in the multi-omics analysis.
- Interactor
- endophytic microbiomee0symbiont
- Outcome
- enrichment of potential endophytic microbiomee0
- Direction
- enrichmente0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“multi-omics approaches (metabolomics, transcriptomics, and metagenomics) have elucidated metabolic crosstalk between citrus hosts and endophytes, highlighting the importance of upregulated defense pathways and enrichment of potential endophytic microbiome”
t0“citrus Huanglongbing management”
Claim · model-written summary
The authors propose that integrating citrus microbiome engineering with plant breeding and precision agriculture could bridge lab discoveries and field applications.
- Outcome
- integrating citrus microbiome engineering with plant breeding and precision agriculturee0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“we propose that integrating citrus microbiome engineering with plant breeding and precision agriculture could bridge the gap between lab discoveries and field applications in long-term”
t0“citrus Huanglongbing management”
The same questions in other papers
Bacillus subtilis · molecular: metabolites · CitrusResults agree
1 paper in the same direction as this paper
- positive
Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.